Simplification and verification of chemical reaction mechanism of RP-3 aviation kerosene

To reveal the combustion and explosion characteristics of RP-3 aviation kerosene, a three-step simplified mechanism involving CO-CO₂, H₂-H₂O equilibrium was constructed. Using a general program based on Cantera and genetic algorithms, the reaction rate parameters were optimized under given conditions, and a relationship between reaction rate parameters and fuel equivalence ratio was developed. The optimized mechanism was compared with multiple flame parameters under multiple operating conditions of RP-3 aviation kerosene. The results showed that the laminar flame speed and adiabatic flame temperature of the three-step simplified mechanism were in good agreement with the experimental data of RP-3 aviation kerosene within the temperature range of 300 ∼ 600 K and pressure range of 1–5 atm, with an error of less than 10 %. The optimized mechanism corrected using a correction function is in good agreement with experimental and numerical results under multiple conditions, verifying the rationality of the simplified program and the accuracy of the three-step simplified mechanism. For practical engineering issues, RP-3 aviation kerosene explosion experiments were conducted, and the pressure and flame data were analyzed and compared. The results indicated that the three-step simplified mechanism had satisfactory calculation time scales and numerical simulation feasibility.